NEWS Briefs

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS INCREASINGLY BEING USED TO MAKE WORKPLACE DECISIONS—BUT HUMAN INTELLIGENCE REMAINS VITAL

Gary D. Friedman | Fortune Magazine | March 13, 2023 companies have increasingly prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. After the killing of George Floyd and subsequent protests around the country, businesses pledged $200 billion to increase efforts toward racial justice. Surveys show businesses are committed to increasing DEI budgets, staffing, and metrics, and investing more in employee resource and affinity groups. Pay equity audits are on the rise, along with a host of new laws in New York, California, and elsewhere mandating transparency on employee compensation.

New York Lawmakers Consider Sexual Assault Comp Bill

Louise Esola | Business Insurance | March 14, 2023

New York lawmakers are considering legislation that would provide parameters for workers compensation claims and lawsuits stemming from workplace sexual assault.

S.B. 5698, introduced on Monday and sent to the Labor Committee, states that injuries from a sexual offense would be compensable under workers comp and would allow “such employee to pursue any other remedies available at law or in equity.”

Companies are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence tools and analytics to reduce cost, enhance efficiency, raise performance, and minimize bias in hiring and other job-related decisions. The results have been promising–but concerns over fairness and objectivity persist.

Large employers are already using some form of artificial intelligence in employment decision-making. A February 2022 survey from the Society of Human Resources Management found that 79% of employers use A.I. and/or automation for recruitment and hiring.

The move by employers to harness A.I. and related data analytics in an effort to reduce unconscious bias in employment decisionmaking is no surprise. In the past few years,

A.I. has been proven to be helpful in a variety of areas related to hiring more diversely, including anonymizing resumes and interviewees, performing structured interviews, and using neuroscience games to identify traits, skills, and behaviors. Some companies conduct video interviews of applicants and use A.I. to analyze factors found within them, including facial expressions, eye contact, and word choice. This use of A.I. can help avoid decisions that treat similarly situated applicants and employees differently based on entrenched or unconscious bias, or the whims of individual decision-makers.

Read More: https://fortune.com/2023/03/13/artificialintelligence-make-workplace-decisions-humanintelligence-remains-vital-careers-techgary-friedman/

The bill also “clarifies that workers compensation should be exclusive remedy except when the employee suffers personal injury as a result of a sexual offense committed by a co-worker.”

Texas lawmakers are also considering a bill that would permit lawsuits following sexual assault under certain conditions.

Read More: https://www.businessinsurance.com/ article/20230314/NEWS08/912356149/ New-York-lawmakers-consider-sexualassault-workers-compensation-bill-

HOW DOES THE COMMERCIAL TRAVELER RULE AFFECT WORKERS’ COMPENSATION?

Bernise Carolino | Human Resources Director | March 8, 2023

Under the commercial traveler rule, the court would consider a commercial traveler to be acting within the course of his employment during the entire period of his travel upon their employer’s business, a recent court ruling said.

3 Stonedeggs, Inc. – the defendant in the case of Nanez vs. 3 Stonedeggs, Inc.; Technology Insurance Company, adjusted by Amtrust North America – was in the business of preparing and serving meals to firefighters and forestry workers at remote locations.

The defendant employed the applicant as a caterer or food assembler or kitchen worker. It authorized the applicant to drive his own car from the Brownsville camp to his residence, then to Happy Camp, where the defendant would serve meals for a three-to-sixmonth period.

The applicant claimed workers’ compensation for injuries arising out of and in the course of employment (AOE/COE) in the form of a traumatic brain injury, fractured femur, and bruised lung due to a motor vehicle accident.

The workers’ compensation administrative law judge denied the applicant’s claim. The judge found that the applicant did not sustain injury AOE/COE, violated company policy when he left the worksite without permission, and materially deviated and completely departed from his employment at the time of injury.

The applicant asked for reconsideration. He argued that the commercial traveler rule applied to his accident because the evidence showed that he was doing an activity reasonably expected to be incident to his employment at the time of his injury.

Read More: https://www.hcamag.com/us/specialization/ employment-law/how-does-the-commercial-traveler-rule-affect-workers-compensation/438779

FROM UNDERGRADUATE TO UNDERWRITER: FOUR EXPERTS SHARE THEIR STRATEGIES FOR WIDENING THE RISK AND INSURANCE TALENT PIPELINE

Raquel Moreno | Risk & Insurance | March 2, 2023

Each year brings news of risk management and insurance programs launching at colleges and universities of every tier. But to get students from classrooms to careers in risk and insurance, faculty, recruiters and employers have their work cut out for them.

Ask most people working in risk management and insurance (RMI) how they found their way to the industry, and they’ll probably say something to the effect of “I just kind of fell into it.”

Soon, responses to that same question may be very different.

“Maybe 10 years ago, McKinsey did a study looking at how many risk management and insurance programs are out there and how much talent the industry needs,” said Thomas Berry-Stoelzle, associate professor of finance, Nationwide faculty fellow, and faculty director of the Vaughan Institute, University of Iowa. The findings from that study showed that graduates from collegiate RMI programs back then could only fill perhaps 10% of job openings.

Since then, programs like the one BerryStoelzle directs have been emerging to build a pipeline from academia to the world of risk.

Carriers, brokerage firms and independent recruiters have also been steadily developing an array of internship, training and recruitment programs in that time to find a way to cultivate the future of risk talent.

Read More: https://riskandinsurance.com/fromundergraduate-to-underwriter-five-expertsshare-their-strategies-for-widening-the-riskand-insurance-talent-pipeline/